Generally, structure-building agents, also referred to as gelling agents, thickening agents, or thickeners are used in oral care composition to increase a viscosity of the oral care composition and to provide a structure to hold other ingredients of the oral care composition in a homogenous state or in a chemically and/or physically stable environment.
Structure-building agents may be hydrophilic or hydrophobic. Hydrophilic gelling agents, such as polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), Carbopol, etc., are used to provide a homogenous structure for aqueous products, while hydrophobic gelling agents, such as plastic gels, are used for products containing large amount of a hydrophobic oil, e.g., mineral oil. However, conventional structure-building agents, such as PVP, Carbopol, plastic gels, etc., are not able to provide a fully homogenous structure to oral care compositions when the oral care composition includes significant amounts of non-aqueous liquids used as dispersants.
Accordingly, there is a desire for structure-building agents that can provide a stable and homogeneous structure to oral care compositions that include non-aqueous liquids.